Mirror mount



Jan. 13, 1953 J. H. EAGLE 2,625,359

MIRROR MOUNT Filed Nov. '19 1947 Fig. 3.

John H. Eagle INVENTOR BYQ i f A ONEYS' Patented Jan. 13, 1953 aces-259 MIRRQB. Mo-UNT J'ohnfiH. Ea'g-le, Rochester, N. Y; assignprt'o' Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester; N. Y1, acorporationofiNewJersey Application Novemlier 19, 19437,-S6li2l-N0.-786,943 S GIa-ims; (o1: 248 316) The present invention relates'to optical instruemploy' mirrors-which are positioned to reflect a beam of light to azspecific position; In-usejthe mirrors may become'dirty cracked oribrokemand may require removal for'cleaning and/or"replace ment. In addition, the mirror maybe subjected to temperature changes which 'will cause expan si'on or contraction of themirror. If 811011118.

mirroris held rigidly in place; it may tend t'o crack or bre'akdueto temperature changes. Such rlgidholding of the mirror may also tend'to 'dis-i tort the optical image formed'bythemirror: l V The present invention overcomes these diiiicul tlesbyhproviding aresilient' clip which willhold themirror yieldaloly in pla'ce': This clip" afiords the desired resiliency: to allow'the' mirrori'to exfpand' and to contract withoutdistorting the-imT-r' -age,zthe*advantages'of' which willbetreadily ap: parent to those the art.. 'While the clipjse? curely' retains'the mirror; in position,.,it permits the. ready removal. of' the mirror for; cleaning 'and7orreplaeement; j The present invention has,, therefore, as. its principal" object" a mirror holding means which ,yieldab'ly butlfirmlyj retains the mirror in position.

A still further object'of" the inventionis the proyisionioffasliold ing means which permit easy and quick positioning of the mirror on its removal from its support.- v

A further object of the invention is the provision of" a mirror-"retaining member which is designed to require the minimum of parts; isijof rugged constrnctionia .and a fiords easy assem blingr ,Yet} another object of the. invention istheaprovision' ofi a.- mirror retaining member whichxsupports the mirror kinematicallyinsuch awaythat very little.- mounting strain is present toidisto-rt.

theroptical image formed by the-mirror.

To these and other ends, .the;.invention; resides certain improvements and combinations. of parts.- allas will be hereinafter more fully; :described, the novel featuresbeing pointed out in the claims atthe'end ofthe' specification.

:a..p1an. view. char-mirror, showing the relation thereto of the mount and retaining means constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view of a portion of the supporting mount, showing the relation thereto of 2. the spring. clip retaining member; and a' mirror held 'in place thereby;

Fig. 3 is .a vertical sectional view taken substantially. onlline 3-3 of'Fig." 2, showingith'e'relation of. the.mirror,1 mount;..,and the spring .clip; and? Fig.4. isa perspective view ofthe spring clip retaining memben. showing. the relation of the various parts;

Similar reference numerals throughout the variousviews indicate the same parts.

The drawings. show a. mount l 1 theiront face l2. .of which ,is. recessed as, shown .at I 3, A to; re.- ceive a plane mirror M of the shape best shown in Rig. 2. The shapeot themirror. is merely illustrative oflone form whichmay be used, as it... is. apparent that\ the-mirror. may be otherwise shaped. to suitthe purpose. for. which. it is, to

.be. used. Also, the mountmay. be made ofl'any desired shape ormaterial-andis not to be-limited to.. the precise shape: shown. Thealower end'of recess. 13 terminates in a shoulder vl.5 whichis ad'aptedto engagethe loweredge l6-of the mirror I41 tolsupport theelatte yas clearly illustrated. in Fig. 3. In the latter figure, the mirror is shown positioned I in. vertical relation,..-but itis understood: andz contemplated.that-the :mount or the -face.. l 2. or both mayibe. disposed so-. -as.sto position .themirror: in. aneinclined iorehorizontal position, ifadesi red.

.A-,- spring. clip, generally indicatedabythenumetal, 20.,aof theashape. best shown: in. Figs: 2 and 4, serves to yieldably hold the mirronlkin alignmentx with the face. I 2 and on .the.:shoulder I5, as-shownin-Fig. 3. This spring; clip comprises a. central portion. 2.! from which radiates, inca 'lflerelationethree arms 522 which extend acrossthe b ck-0t the. mount l l a and are-spaced from the rear suriace -23- thereof', asshown in Fig. 3'. The

positions;-..-lengths' and shapesof the arms 2i will depend nt -c0urse,.on-. the. particular size; shape and? arrangement of the-mirror I 4,,an-dthe. form shown ist-merely illustrativeand =not-atoubertaken as aelimitation exceptuasvisa necessitated byithe claims; Therthree end's off thesarmsi2-2 are'bent forwardly; as: shown; at; 2 !;v to bei-b'ent overa the side edges ofithemountiandithemirror, aridthen bent inwardly towards each other to providethre'e spacedipadsmm'fin'gers z-i which engage the front face itfiofi the mirror "lat spaced points-=wliich obviously, are outside the area occupied by the image.

Thus, the mirror 14 is engaged at three spaced points by the spring clip, as is apparent from an inspection of Fig. 2. In order that the spring clip may be effective in retaining the mirror in engagement with the face l2 and on the shoulder 15, the clip is preferably tensioned so that the pads 25 yieldably engage the face 25 to releasably retain the mirror in position. To secure this result, the central portion 2! of the clip is formed with an aperture 27 adapted to receive a ball 28 which is positioned between the portion 2! and the rear surface 23 of the mount to bow the arms 22 rearwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, to tension the clip, The mirror thus positioned is held yieldably in place by the tensioned clip which may be assembled merely by slipping it down over the mirror and mount assembly, the ball providing a spring action for the clip to hold the entire assembly together. In order to prevent the ball 28 from becoming dislodged, the rear surface 23 of the mount is formed with a rearwardly and upwardly projecting ear 29 under which the ball is positioned, as best shown in Fig. 3. This ball a and ear arrangement serves to retain the ball and clip in place, yet permits the clip to be easily disconnected, when desired.

In order to insure the retention of the lower edge of the mirror It on the shoulder i5, the end of the upper arm 22 is formed with a forwardly extending lug or plate 35) which passes over the top of the mount, see Fig. 3, and engages the upper surface 3! of the mirror [4 so that the latter is held against vertical movement between distort the image formed by the mirror, and will also allow the latter to alter its dimensions due to temperature changes without damage to the mirror. In addition, the mounting support is simple in design, can be assembled easily and quickly, and may be readily removed when desired.

While one embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it is to be understood that the inventive idea may be carried out in a number of ways. limited to the precise details disclosed but is intended to cover all variations or modifications falling within the scope of the appended claims. I claim:

1. A mirror holder comprising, in combination, a mount, a shoulder formed on said mount and against which a mirror may rest to support the latter, a one-piece flexible spring clip formed with integral projecting arms, a pad carried by each of said arms and adapted to engage a surface of said mirror to retain the latter in place on said mount, means on one of said arms for engaging said mirror to retain the latter positively in'supporting relation with said shoulder, and means for flexing said clip for tensioning the entire clip to retain the latter in supporting relation with said shoulder, and to maintain said pads in yieldable holding relation with said mirror.

'2. Amirror holder comprising, in combination, a mount, a shoulder formed on said mount and This application is, therefore, not to be D against which a mirror may rest to support the latter, a spring clip formed with projecting arms, a pad carried by each of said arms and adapted to engage a surface of said mirror to retain the latter in place on said mount, said clip being formed with an opening, and a ball recessed in said opening and engaging said mount to tension said clip to hold said pads in yieldable holding relation with said mirror.

3. A mirror holder comprising, in combination, a mount, a shoulder formed on said mount and against which a mirror may rest to support the latter, a spring clip formed with projecting arms, a pad carried by each of said arms and adapted to engage a surf-ace of said mirror to retain the latter in place on said mount, said clip being formed with an opening, a ball recessed in said opening and engaging said mount to tension said clip to hold said pads in yieldable holding relation with said mirror, and means carried by one of said arms for engaging said mirror to hold the latter against said shoulder.

4. A mirror holder comprising, in combination, a mount, a shoulder formed on said mount and against which a mirror may rest to support the latter, a spring clip formed with projecting arms, a pad carried by each of said arms and adapted to engage a surface of said mirror to retain the latter in place on said mount, said clip being formed with an opening, a ball recessed in said opening and engaging said mount to tension said clip to hold said pads in yieldable holding relation with said mirror, and an ear formed on said mount and engaging said ball to retain the clip in position on said mount.

5. A mirror holder comprising, in combination, a mount the front surface of which is recessed to receive a mirror, a shoulder at the bottom of said recess for supporting said mirror, a Y- shaped clip positioned behind said mount and formed with spaced pads to extend aroundthe edge of said mirror and engage the front face thereof to hold said mirror against the mount, said clip being formed with an opening, a ball recessed in said opening and engaging the back of said mount to bow the clip to tension the latter to retain said pads in resilient engagement with said face, and an ear formed on said back and engaging said ball to retain the latter and clip in assembled relation on said mount.

JOHN H. EAGLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in'the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 628,714 Ingersoll July 11, 1899 1,210,934 Hayes Jan. 2-, 1917 1,315,326 Palis Sept. 9, 1919 1,425,550 Spiro Aug. 15, 1922 1,701,419 Peden Feb. 5, 1929 1,853,483 Winters Apr. 12, 1932 1,936,100 Stack Nov. 21, 1933 2,455,919- Daon Dec. 14, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 442,888 France of 1913 

